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  What it means

  Literally “Wait, dear friend, until the wolves eat the mare.” If you wait for the perfect moment or for someone else to act, the chance may be gone. The wolves eating the mare show how waiting too long can end badly. The proverb warns against delay and passive waiting.

  English equivalent

  Don't wait for something that'll never happen. / Strike while the iron is hot.

  Vocabulary

  • czekać — to wait (imperfective)
  • czekaj — wait! (imperative, 2nd person singular)
  • tatka latka — rhyming vocative phrase for 'buddy, pal' (folksy and ironic)
  • aż — until
  • kobyłka — mare (diminutive of kobyła, female horse)
  • zjedzą — they will eat (3rd person plural future perfective of zjeść)

  Grammar note

  Czekaj is the imperfective imperative of czekać, giving a sense of ongoing, futile waiting. Aż introduces a subordinate clause of time and result ('until...'), used here ironically. Kobyłkę is the accusative of kobyłka, the direct object of zjedzą. Zjedzą is the third-person plural perfective future of zjeść, so the action will be complete.

  Cultural context

  Tatka latka is a humorous, rhyming form of address, not a literal one, so the proverb sounds playful and teasing. Wolves and a mare come from rural life. Today it mocks someone who delays or waits for a condition that will never happen.

  Intermediate

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